Dear Colleagues,

Dear Friends,

It will be my pleasure to welcome you in September 2012 in Dubrovnik – Croatia, a World Heritage City with more than 1,000 years of history, internationally known as the "Pearl of the Adriatic". After several successful congresses we are very happy to go east where the interest in shoulder and elbow surgery is increasing fast. This 24th SECEC congress will be held under the Presidency of Nikola Cicak who is a prominent member of our society and has greatly contributed to the development of shoulder and elbow surgery in Eastern countries.

In Dubrovnik we will celebrate the 25th anniversary of our Society and it will be the occasion for all of us, members of the Society, to remember our 25 year history, full of anecdotes and experiences, but must also serve to prepare our future and guidelines as a Scientific Society.

Learn & Share: it is and should be with no doubt our goal at the SECEC Congresses - learn from the most experienced specialists and share with the younger ones, increasingly interested in the pathology of Shoulder and Elbow. Learn & Share at the 9 Instructional Courses, 2 Symposia, 13 Scientific Sessions, 2 Invited Lectures, 1 Specialty Day on Rehabilitation ... but why not, during those pauses in scientific sessions with makeshift forums taken place in aisles and lobbies, where our congress participants are discussing the lessons learnt at the lecture rooms.

The Congress of our Society is the showcase of the vitality of our society: the scientific level and the number of registered participants have been both increasing in each edition - SECEC has established itself year after year as a benchmark, not only European but global basis, in Continuing Medical Education in Shoulder and Elbow, based on a logical and rigorous selection of subjects (from these lines I must congratulate the Education Committee) that allow us all to achieve and assess the latest developments as well as perform an extensive review of those already established techniques.

I would like to encourage everyone to participate in our -and your- 24 SECEC Congress SECEC Dubrovnik 2012!

With my best wishes,